Roll4it - LaylaTVS - Not so Light Reading
by OberonNaga
Summary: Canon thru Ep.17 Robert's mind can't rest with the revelations granted following his father's arrival in Little Rosewater. He must find out the truth, regardless of the consequences.


Chapter 1 – Not so Light Reading

Alexa was growing weary. Dead Drox demons were slowly dissolving around her as she made her way through the jungle. She was desperate to reconnect with her husband. He had successfully led half the group away, but she worried that his bullheadedness would get him hurt. A rustling in the brush brought her thoughts back to her current surroundings. Her hands were a blur as she spoke her next spell. Her body and mind were exhausted by the amount of magic she was forced to bring to bear, but she was still able to conjure as muscle memory and keep her full attention on her surroundings.

The Drox that charged her out of the brush was met by a spear of ice into the center of his face. The ice spread so quickly around the demon that by the time he reached Alexa, he was completely frozen and crashed to steaming pieces at her feet. He had been a lesser Drox, too young for his magic resistance to keep him alive. Alexa didn't drop her guard and was quick enough to dodge the pincer attack from a second Drox. Her new opponent was in her guard, too close to conjure a proper spell, so Alexa focused her mind and tossed the Drox five meters back, into a tree with her telekinesis.

Alexa's hands stopped mid-cast as she noticed the young Drox. He was very young, little more than a decade at her estimation. She was struck by how young this demon was and why it's elders seemed fit to bring the child with them. She went to continue her casting on the now shaking young demon when a deep voice spoke behind her. "Bak'tarby, you must follow through on your hunts."

Alexa spun around to face the massive elder Drox behind her, ice spear poised. The Drox leader ducked the spear and grabbed both of her hands in his massive paw before crushing them. Alexa couldn't keep the scream from her lips as her hands were crushed and burned in a single action. The elder Drox demon threw her into a nearby tree. Alexa curled herself into a ball as she desperately tried to regain her breath. She was more terrified then she ever had been before. She felt the pull of magic within her, the dark voice that she had been trained to avoid at all cost. She grasped it with both metaphorical hands as she tried to sit up.

She felt the pure, dark magic envelop her as tendrils of darkness struck out at the elder Drox. Bak'traby fled as Alexa scored a deep wound over the face of the elder Drox. He roared in fury as he charged through the tangible darkness straight for her. The last image that appeared in Alexa's mind was of her son smiling as the couple left for their mission.

The tome of Alexa Dipper Davidson closed with a soft snap. It took Rob a few minutes of shaking, clutching the book to his chest, before he took a deep, shaky breath and placed the tome back into its proper place. He ran a finger over the spine. "I love you Mum." He moved back from the shelf and stepped out toward the more open area between the rows upon rows of shelves, stepping through the growing pool of ink leaking from the spider with a perfectly circular hole in its skull that had stopped smoking a long time ago.

Robert could feel the ink sinking into his shoes and hear the low whine that indicated that the next bolt was ready in his railgun, but they were dull, sitting in the back of his mind for quick reference when needed. He stopped and looked straight ahead before drawing his thumb across his neck slowly in a throat-slitting pantomime.

A part of his mind marveled at how apt the gesture was for a signal as he was pulled from the Extradimensional Library and stumbled back onto his bed. Violet was perched cross-legged on the top of his desk with a small smile on her face as she traced her long fingers on the border of the portal. "Did you find anything interesting, Robert?" She closed the book with a snap.

Robert turned away from the girl, staring at the ceiling as the word 'Bak'tarby' kept swinging around in his mind. He slammed his hands onto either side of the bed and yelled in frustration. He saw Violet cock her head to the side slightly with a quizzical look on her face. He ignored her as his mind reminded him that the sparking, activated form of his railgun watch shouldn't be near his flammable bedsheets. He sat up swiftly and moved to disengage the railgun when he heard a banging from the wall connecting to the opposite room and Barnaby's voice calling out. "Rob, is everything alright?"

Robert had used some of his time at home to move his dorm room next to Barnaby's for easy access while he was still living in the dorms. Rob had thought that the closeness would be a boon for them escaping for patrol, but now Barnaby's voice made his head pound. His brain was running through all his thoughts about the secrets that everyone in the group kept from each other as his body stood and pointed the railgun at the wall. He was actively computing the approximate location of Barnaby's head through the almost uselessly thin wall of the dormitories.

Violet stood off to the side of Rob, clearly in his vision but not actively in the line of the railgun. Her head was cocked to the side and a slight smile was on her face as she gave Barnaby an answer in a very breathy and sensual voice. "Ah! Barnaby, you know as well as I that Robert doesn't like being spied on. So, mhm, don't be too nosy." The banging stopped immediately and after a moment there was a slight crash as Barnaby's door opened and he could be heard moving away. Rob's arm tracking him through the wall until he couldn't be heard from the hallway anymore. After a moment, Violet moved closer and place a hand lightly on Robert's extended elbow. "You're very tense, Robert."

His mind was still processing the past few moments, so he didn't think before he replied. "Yes, I am, and no I don't want to talk about it."

Violet smiled as she easily deactivating his railgun, much to his chagrin. "Well, you might want to think about talking about it, because you almost shot Barnaby."

Rob looked at her sharply dropping his arm away from her grip. "Why do you care?"

Violet actually looked hurt at his words for a moment before putting her mask back on. "You are the one who chastised me about my lack of empathy and caring. I'm trying Robert, at least give me that."

Robert sighed, but quickly sucked in a sharp breath and turned slightly red. "Oh bloody hell. Barnaby thinks we were…"

He couldn't finish his sentence as Violet simply looked up through her lashes at him. It would have looked bashful if not for the wicked smirk splitting her face. "Well, I had to get rid of him somehow. He is probably getting Layla and thinks I have ensorcelled you with my wicked ways or something." Robert felt his face heat up. "What are you going to do when they come in here?"

Robert covered his face with his hand. "I will calmly explain that you were just kidding, and we were discussing something."

Violet went so far as to do the air quotation marks as she said. "Discussing? Yes, Robert because it's not like that is a code I've heard before or anything. That was around when I was a human before, which was a little while ago." Robert groaned and was about to give another suggestion, but Violet cut him off. "Also, you are a terrible liar and all of us know it, Robert. You are also stiffer than one of those pencils you somehow take demon's heads of with." Robert groaned again, sitting back on his bed and putting his head in his hands. Violet walked over and put a hand on his shoulder. "Come on Robert, you're a man of science and thinking. You really need to calm down, or the others are going to figure out that something is wrong with you."

Violet had agreed to help him go into the book behind his friends backs and now she was stopping him from doing something 'interesting'. Despite all she had done to help him recently, he couldn't trust Violet not to have ulterior motives. He felt his body tense even further as he started running through what he had almost done. He had almost shot Barnaby for no reason. His mother's last moments flashed in front of his mind again and he groaned, covering his face with his hands. He felt Violet's hand on his shoulder, patting it awkwardly. She was clearly trying to do something to help him, but the phrases she used brought up the last conversation they had late at night in his dorm room. He turned red as various dreams he read about in his tome now joined the swirling thoughts consuming his head. Violet was right. If his friends saw him right now they would know something had gone horribly wrong. He had to stop thinking about everything and calm down. He looked at Violet who was smiling slightly at his obvious internal conflict. He wanted to drop her mask to see what her motives were, so he said the most outlandish thing he could think of. "Violet, would you like to shag."

She looked very, very confused. "Actually, I thought you were going to talk about… You know what? Yes, yes I would." She pushed him back onto his bed. Rob was still processing that this wasn't her goal in the first place when she mounted him and started to kiss him. His mind was clear enough for a moment to realize that he certainly wouldn't have to deal with Layla and the others if they walked in now. He knew he could stop this if he spoke up, but he decided to go along with his own outlandish idea.

When he woke up, his mind wasn't racing a mile a minute. He was sore, but in a strangely pleasant way. He slowly opened his eyes and sat up on his elbows. He followed the beckoning whistle to find Violet sitting on his desk with her legs folded wearing nothing but his jacket and her underwear. "You certainly seem calmer now. As entertaining as last night was, I believe you do owe me some answers Robert?" Robert turned red as the memories of the previous evening came flooding back. He grabbed onto the verbal lifeline to save himself from passing out in embarrassment and focused on a single spot on his ceiling. "I just found out that my parents used to slay demons…"


End file.
